Once Upon a Dream
by jessica.w.campbell
Summary: It may be two years since his death but George isn't coping at all with the loss of Fred. While being haunted with nightmares everyone else's lives seem to be getting better, isn't it time his did too? When he meets an old friend and Quidditch teammate, Angelina Johnson, George's dark world becomes brighter. But when his life depends on it, can he let Fred go? Leave reviews please!
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1- Constant Nightmares **

Nothing but darkness surrounded him. George was walking slowly forwards with his wand in his hand, the sound of his blue converses walking on the black floor was the only sound that echoed in the never ending darkness. He was scared, not even his mother's knitted jumper could stop him from shivering as a cold breeze hit him, intensifying his fear. Not knowing where the breeze came from made him walk faster, but not as fast as his heart that was beating uncontrollably hard. Soon, a thick smoke slithered in with a strong dirty smell and as he pushed his way through it, he heard someone breathing heavily. The person then made a muffled groan of pain, but George still didn't know who it was. His feet ached as he crept through the ensnaring smoke to eventually see a man with a blurred face sitting in a corner on the floor. He wore a knitted jumper that had holes where fire or falling bricks might have damaged it and there was blood trickling down and around his left ear. He had black hair that almost blended in with the darkness around them, was George meant to recognise him? His blackened left hand was patting around frantically for his wand and as he grabbed it, his face moved to face George. He still couldn't make out who the man was. As the man lingered, it felt like he was connecting himself to George just by looking at him, he made George feel sadness, hopelessness and even more fear. The man turned his head to the right of where George stood. George slowly turned his head to see someone covered in a black hooded robe, he could not see the person's face as the hood created a black shadow over them and their hands were covered in black gloves that were dotted with blood. They took out their crooked brown wand and waved it in the direction of the man sitting on the floor, forcing his wand to fly out of his hand. George knew what was going to happen next. Something inside told him that he had to do something to stop this man from dying at all costs, even if it meant throwing himself in front of him. He quickly stepped in between the black hooded figure and the blurred man. The hooded figure pointed their wand towards George. This was it, he was going to die for a man he didn't even know, he was frightened and there was a knot tightening in his stomach to the point where it had reached its limit. He inhaled heavily.

"_Avada Kedavra!_" the hooded figure roared with a deep muffled voice.

A green light streamed from the wand towards George…..and then straight through him as if he wasn't even there. He heard the man behind him scream before there was silence. The black figure evaporated and became on with the think choking smoke, while the man's face started to become clear. George saw the man's black hair slowly turn the same ginger as his, he suddenly saw a face that looked almost like his own. There was nothing to do but to fall to the floor crying as the ghost of Fred came out of his corpse. The ghost wore his knitted jumper with a blood stained F, he was much more pale than usual and he had a face of despair mixed with some sort of anger. Fred knelt beside George so close that if he was alive, George would be able to feel his breath playfully tickle his ear and neck.

"You didn't save me, George," Fred whispered as his voice trembled,

"I'm sorry," George cried.

He couldn't bring himself to look at Fred's ghost, instead he looked at the dead body that lay in front of him. All the times his mother had called him Fred rushed through his mind; at this moment he wished he was Fred, he wished that it was him that died or at least that no one had to die.

"Sorry doesn't bring me back. You were meant to be there for me, but you weren't," Fred spat the words in his ear.

There was a sharp pain spreading through George's chest as Fred moved to sit in front of him. There was no expression in his face, no more despair, no more anger, his face was just blank, as if he was….dead.

"You could've saved me, George. You could've stopped mum crying, stopped dad lashing out, stopped Ron and Ginny from having to visit a grave every week, but you didn't."

"I didn't want this to happen. I tried!" George shouted as the tears fell down his face and onto his jumper.

"YOU DIDN'T TRY HARD ENOUGH!" Fred looked at him before getting up and turning his back on him, "I will make you feel how I felt when I died, alone, unloved, cold."

George reached out to Fred, hoping to grab hold of his jumper, but he disappeared, leaving George to grab the jumper of Fred's dead body. He felt the cold blood stain his hands making him pull his hand back quickly and get up. The thick grey smoke still surrounded him and the darkness had more presence as if it was consuming the air around him. He could hear Fred's voice echoing around him but growing louder and louder, repeating everything that he had said over and over again. He couldn't take it, the pain of watching his own brother die and not doing anything to save him, having to deal with only having half a heart, not having someone complete his sentences, not having a part of who he was. He felt the darkness close in on him as it devoured Fred's body slowly, like a python slowly swallowing a deer whole. It was his turn next.

"This is what I deserve, I didn't save my brother and now he won't save me," he whimpered as he wiped his tears and closed his eyes.

The smoke closed in on him as it ran away from the incoming darkness, his fingers were slowly devoured first and as the darkness spread, a sharp pain surged around what was left of his body. Soon his arms were gone, then his legs, then….

….then he woke up.

He quickly sat up in his bed. The sweat all over his body dripped down him as he pulled on his white t-shirt to stop it from sticking to his body and air himself out. He was breathing heavily as if everything that had happened in his dream was real. The white sheet that should've been draped over him was half way down his legs, his patchwork multi-coloured blanket was lying on the floor and his pillow looked at if it was been squeezed and abused. This was the worst dream he had had since Fred's death. It had been almost two years since the day he lost him. It started off with memories like watching Ron dance with Professor McGonagall and laughing their heads off or all the times they annoyed Professor Umbridge, but Fred would always fade away, leaving George by himself. But then it just got worse. He got out of his bed and opened the window. The cold breeze gave him goose bumps and soothed him even though it reminded him of the horrible nightmare he just had. With his eyes closed, he stumbled backwards until the back of his legs hit the frame of the bed and then he deflated down onto the bed. He rubbed the maroon velvet drapes of his bed between his fingers to bring his mind back to the thing that comforted him the most, his home. Tears slowly trickled down his face and as he wiped them away, someone entered his room. Light showered into the room, lighting it as if his bedroom light was on and he squinted before he could recognise who stood by the door.

"Bad dream again?" Hermione softly asked.

George nodded as she walked over and knelt in front of him. She wore one of Ron's grey t-shirts, which made her look smaller than usual, along with navy blue tracksuit bottoms and leopard print fluffy slippers.

"How did you know?" George asked as he turned his lamp on,

"You've been having them for the past week, Ron is worried about you so I said I'd check on you. He would do it himself but he's too lazy," she smiled.

Usually he would laugh at a Ron based joke, but his nightmare had drained him of all positive emotions.

"We're all worried about you, George," Hermione delicately placed her hand on his shoulder,

"Don't be, I'm fine," he forced a smile on to his face.

When he looked at Hermione, who saw that she wasn't buying his fake smile whatsoever, but then realized that he just wanted to be alone. She nodded and walked towards the door. She looked back at him and he smiled at her again, this time putting more effort into making it look like a genuine smile. When she left and close the door, George put his head into his hands and allowed the tears that had been held back to fall rapidly. He wasn't fine. He was the complete opposite of fine. He felt like his world was crumbling around him while everyone else's lives were getting better. As he lay down and pulled the sheet over himself he looked to his left at a perfectly made empty bed. A wand lay perfectly in the middle of freshly plumped pillow and at the end of the bed, lay a dark green knitted jumper on a blanket that was the same as George's.

"You should be here, Fred," he wept as he closed his eyes.

He knew that he'd probably have another nightmare about Fred, but if it meant that he could see him again, it was worth it. Tears that had tried on his cheeks were replaced by fresh ones that still fell as he slowly fell asleep.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2- That Gleam in Your Eyes is so Familiar a Gleam**

"Ronald Weasley, if you don't get out of bed right now, I swear I will make sure that you can never get out of bed again!" shouted Hermione.

George was used to hearing threats like that from his mother or even Ginny, but hearing Hermione shout it made it evident that she was fitting into the Weasley way of life. He turned off his lamp that he left on during the night, got out of bed and closed the window. When he looked at his mess of a bed, he couldn't help but look at Fred's, it looked like their mum had just come in and spent an hour making sure that every corner, every edge and every little detail was perfect.

"George, are you going to come down? Breakfast is getting cold," called Molly,

"There's no need to shout, mum, I'm right here," George smiled.

He had a quick shower and changed into his striped russet brown suit and waistcoat with a maroon tie. Ron ran past him and sat in the chair next to Hermione while apologising for being late for breakfast. Arthur was sitting at the head of the table as usual, with Ginny pouring out cereal to his left and an empty chair to his right where Molly would sit. Hermione sat next to Ginny and dictated what Ron would have for breakfast instead of his normal sausages and bacon with toast, Percy sat opposite her, eating a piece of buttered toast while reading The Daily Prophet and Charlie was helping Molly cook the last of the bacon. Everyone was there. Everyone but Fred. Percy turned his head to look at George, then tapped the chair next to him with a friendly grin. When George sat down next to him, Molly came over with a glass of pumpkin juice.

"Now, what would you like dear? Ron obviously wanted a fry up so we have sausages, bacon, toast, beans and eggs, but I can make you something else if that's what you want," she had been fussing over George a lot recently, as if to put all her love for Fred into the next best thing,

"I'll just have toast and bacon, I'm going to the shop today, so I won't be staying here long," George said as he drank some juice,

"Well, be back in time for tea, Harry is coming back from whatever business he's been on and I want him to come back to a family," Molly gave him a plate of toast and bacon with ketchup on in the shape of a G.

"I'll come to the shop with you, I haven't been there in a while," Ron stuffed a piece of toast into his mouth,

"Ron, we have that thing in an hour remember," Hermione gave him a stare of annoyance,

"Yes, but afterwards, I will go to the shop while you go to the library," Ron kissed her cheek.

Hermione wiped the toast crumbs off her cheek with a face of disgust. George had a feeling that Ron and Hermione were hiding something from them, something big. He could feel Arthur, Molly and Ginny looking at him, Hermione didn't have to tell him that they were worried about him, it was written over their faces in big flashing lights. He realized that everyone was talking at the table; he didn't seem to _want_ to be a part of any conversation, but when he saw the concerned face on Molly while she drank her tea, he knew he had to at least try.

"I think we should have a banner for Harry when he comes back," he suggested,

"He said he didn't really want anything big," Ginny tied her glossy ginger hair back,

"But this is _Harry_" Ron complained,

"Yeah, and he is part of the family," George shrugged and smiled at Ginny,

"Well, I'll just make some nibbles and we'll have a home coming party," Molly smiled as she ate,

"I invited Bill and Fleur with their little one," Percy put down the newspaper and got up,

"That sounds lovely. Now, I want everyone here by 5 o'clock _sharp_, I'm not going through all this trouble for nothing, I tell you that now," Molly pointed her knife at each and every one of them with the stare of death, forcing everyone to furiously nod.

Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes was busy as usual. It was the afternoon and children came in with their parents begging for a bottle of this and one hundred grams of that, witches and wizards from Hogwarts came to pick out what to use to get at the teacher they hated the most and the regulars came with friends and a built in map of where all the stuff they wanted was.

George stood in the middle of the highest staircase, watching over everything. Then he saw her. She had dark brown, almost black, silky hair that ended at her shoulders where it slightly curled, her slight side fringe partly covered her glittering deep brown eyes and her sweet chocolate skin. She wore a dress covered in purple flowers with black ballet pumps. There was something about her that he recognised, but he had never seen someone who seemed to shine so brightly before. She hypnotized him, making him unaware of Ron and Hermione's entrance.

"You know, people find it weird when they're stared at," Hermione said in his ear as she stood to the right of him.

He jumped and put his hand on his chest as he turned to face Hermione while calming himself down. Hermione wore a grey top that hung loosely on her with quarter length sleeves, along with blue jeans and red ballet pumps. Her hair was put into a French plait and there was a natural glow about her.

"I'm not staring at anyone," he lied with an innocent face,

"I've seen Ron and Harry stare at many girls in the past and you look exactly like them when they are pining over a girl," she crossed her arms with a grin,

"I haven't stared at many girls," Ron protested as he took off his red and black checkered shirt and pulled at his grey t-shirt to cool himself down.

Both George and Hermione looked at each other, then back at Ron to simultaneously say, "Yes you have," and laugh.

Ron shrugged and laughed a little before asking, "Who are you admiring?"

"No one," George shook his head.

He looked back down and searched the crowd of people for the girl he saw before. Finding her was like the opposite to Where's Wally, she had turned her attention to the Flirting Fancies after picking up a couple Canary Creams. The way she picked up the potion was very delicate and graceful.

"Oh, her, that's Angelina Johnson," Hermione had obviously followed his gaze,

"Who?" he asked without looking at Hermione,

"Angelina Johnson, she was on the Quidditch team and Fred asked her to the Yule Ball years ago," Ron explained.

George suddenly remembered her. He remembered her being probably one of the best Chaser's on the Gryffindor Quidditch team and Ron complaining about her when she became captain. He remembered being partly disappointed when she agreed to go to the Yule Ball with Fred and having to force a smile when Fred talked about their relationship. It was amazing how she had matured and still looked as beautiful as he thought she was years ago.

"Apparently she didn't take Fred's death well, but she has gotten over it now," Hermione said,

"How do you know that?" George asked, finally taking his eyes off Angelina to look at Hermione,

"This is Hermione, there is nothing that she _doesn't_ know," Ron said.

George nodded in agreement before looking back at Angelina.

"Oh for God's sake, go talk to her," Hermione suggested,

"Yeah, and remind her of her boyfriend that tragically died," Ron responded.

By the slapping noise and Ron saying, "Oi, that hurt!" George could tell that Hermione had hit his arm pretty hard. George would've kicked him himself, but he couldn't take his eyes off Angelina. A voice emerged in his head, Fred's voice, _are you really thinking about going for a girl I once dated?_ George shook his head and turned around so his back was leaning against the barrier.

"You know what, a jellyfish has more backbone than you Weasleys'" Hermione sighed before going down the steps and making her way to Angelina.

George and Ron looked at each other and ran after her before she could say anything that would embarrass him. But they were too late. When they got to where they were, Hermione was already having a conversation with Angelina. They were too far away to hear what they were saying, but George hoped that it was something that didn't make him sound like a wimp, because he knew that was what he was acting like. After a couple of laughs, Angelina glanced at George with a gleam in her eyes and smiled before looking back at Hermione and nodding. Hermione shook her hand, turned away from her and walked up to George.

"You are so very welcome," she smiled before grabbing Ron's arm and pulling him away,

"Good luck!" Ron shouted before he was dragged out of the shop.

George slowly walked up to Angelina while a knot started to form in his stomach and a lump began to grow in his throat. She was fiddling with her dress and looked up when he finally stood in front of her. He didn't know what he was going to say, obviously he should start with something like 'Hello' but he wasn't sure if he could force the word out of his mouth. She smiled at him with her glossed lips and her eyes looked more dazzling up close than when he was up on the staircase. He had to say something, anything. He gulped and smiled, "Hi."


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3- Home Coming**

Despite George's awkwardness, he and Angelina ended up having a somewhat decent conversation and had eventually made it out of the shop and down Diagon Ally. Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour was up and running again and looked exactly the same as before; it seemed only right to offer to buy Angelina an ice cream as they walked past it. They sat around a pastel yellow round table on matching vintage chairs, with their elbows on the table as they ate their ice creams and looked at each other.

"Sorry, I'm staring," George looked down at his ice cream,

"It's okay," she smiled sweetly, "it's nice to have so much attention."

As they laughed, George realized how angelic her laugh was and how he had never genuinely laughed in so long. He finally felt like the old George he used to be and it was because of Angelina. She reminded him of all the fun he used to have when Fred was there and that maybe, he could be the same without him.

"Are you still playing Quidditch?" he asked as he quickly finished off his ice cream,

"Oh definitely, hoping to be on the Holyhead Harpies, if I'm good enough," she was still working on her ice cream,

"Of course you're good enough," George insisted,

"Well it would be rude if you said I wasn't," she laughed.

They laughed and talked for ages, when they had finished their ice cream, they remained outside the ice cream shop. It was when George's watch beeped that their conversation had to come to an end.

"I'm sorry, I have to go, Harry is coming back and we're having a family gathering," George explained as he got up,

"It's okay, we've been here for around two hours talking," she smiled as she got up,

"Well, maybe we could meet again sometime?"

The knot in George's stomach that he thought had vanished came back as Angelina looked down and sighed.

"George, today has been lovely, but when I look at you…" there was no need for Angelina to complete her sentence,

"You see Fred, not me."

George was afraid of this. He didn't want to remind anyone of someone who had died tragically, but when you're an identical twin, that's one of the only things you can do right. There was no point of him staying to be put down even more. He nodded and started to walk away.

"Friends first?" Angelina called for him.

He stopped and smiled to himself. Maybe he did have a chance after all, maybe for once things were going his way. He turned around and smiled at her. She walked up to him while taking out her wand and placed it on the top of his left hand.

"This is my number and address, when you want to go out, just call or send a letter," she said softly as her number and address appeared on his hand in delicate black writing.

As she lifted off her wand, she smiled and walked off into the sun like an angel going back to heaven. A part of George was proud, he had actually talked to her and got her number, but another part of him was excited to show it off in front of Ron. There was a grin on his face as he walked down the street and made his way home.

"Ron, how many times do I have to tell you to stop taking the sausage rolls?!" Molly shouted as George entered the house.

When he walked into the kitchen, he was amazed by the effort that Molly had made. There was a red and gold banner hovering over the entrance saying _Welcome Home Harry_ in black glittery writing. There were platters of food on the table, sausage rolls, chicken drumsticks, crisps, chocolates, drewballs, liquorice wands, mini pizzas, bread rolls, chocolate brownies and more. The smell of all the hot food mixed together sent George to his own version of heaven, making him close his eyes and smile. When he took himself away from his special place, he saw Ginny who was wearing a baby blue free flowing dress and putting another platter down on the table. She was all made up, her hair was curled and put to one side and her cheeks were the colour of freshly bloomed red roses, but she wasn't wearing heels like she usually would for special occasions, instead she wore simple blue ballet pumps. It was moments like these when George would realize how much Ginny had grown, how much everyone had grown.

"Ginny, let me just have one more sausage roll," Ron pleaded as he came in buttoning up his shirt,

"Like mum said, no. How can you eat so much?" Ginny replied and before she left, she looked at George to smile at him,

"I have a stomach, that's how," Ron walked over to George.

Ron's shirt was perfectly ironed with no stains or creases, but most importantly…_pink_. His navy blue jeans looked new and his converses had been cleaned so that they were an almost bright red, not the normal murky maroon colour, even his hair was somewhat presentable. This had to be the work of Hermione.

"You look…good," George smirked,

"Hermione insisted that I should clean myself up a bit," Ron pulled on the bottom of his shirt,

"A bit? It must have taken hours to get your hair sorted, another thirty minutes to convince you to put on that shirt," George could go on, but Ron put his hand out to stop him,

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Let's not focus on what I'm wearing,"

"I think you'll find that's all I can focus on,"

"Let's focus on how your day was with Angelina."

George made a cheeky smirk before walking over to the table and stealing a crisp. Ron turned around, watching him with an eager face of expectation.

"We talked for ages, she's so interesting, I don't think she's changed much, but she laughs at all my jokes; who wouldn't? We had ice cream and sat there for hours it was absolutely amazing," George ranted.

Ron was staring at him with an amused face. George knew that anyone would find it weird to see him like this; he was beaming, he hadn't been this happy in ages and even he was surprised by how he was reacting.

"So you didn't embarrass yourself then?" Ron laughed,

"Speaking of embarrassing, you better not get any stains on that _pink_ shirt, Ginny would probably lend you one, just in case," George chuckled as everyone else came into the kitchen.

George couldn't help but smile as his eyes hovered over everyone. Ginny and Hermione looked beautiful, Molly and Arthur looked like they hadn't aged whatsoever and they both had big smiles on their faces as they talked to each other, Ron was eyeing up the food as usual in his pink shirt and Charlie and Percy would occasionally tap his shoulder to get him to think of something else other than food. They all looked happy. George had never seen them all like this before….without Fred. _Stop thinking about what this would be like if Fred was here_, he screamed at himself as they all gathered behind the banner and waited for Harry.

"What time is he meant to be getting here?" Percy asked while adjusting a camera,

"I'm not too sure, he just said some time in the evening," Ginny smoothed out her dress,

"So for all we know, we've all gotten here at 5 o'clock with the risk of being shouted at by mum, when there is a chance that Harry could be getting here at 10 o'clock," Ron sighed,

"Yeah, pretty much," Ginny looked at Ron with a stern face, "you got a problem with that Mr Pinky?"

"No, not at all," Ron moved away from her slightly.

A clicking sound from the front door made them all turn their heads to face the entrance to the kitchen and produce the biggest of smiles. As it opened they heard someone say, "Bloody glasses, how comes other people can fix them but I can't?"

They all giggled quietly to themselves before Harry entered the room.

"SURPRISE!" most of them shouted,

"WELCOME HOME, HARRY!" Ron shouted.

Harry was taken back. He didn't look as presentable as them, his hair was a mess, his glasses were crooked, his long black jacket was speckled with dirt, but apart from that, he looked like the same old Harry. He laughed and held his arms out for Ginny who ran to him and flung her arms around him.

"We've missed you," Ginny smiled as she kissed his cheek,

"I missed you too," he glanced over everyone with a smile before focussing on Ron, "erm…Ron?"

"Yeah mate?" Ron stepped forward.

Harry was silent for a while as he seemed to search for words. George was waiting for something sentimental and meaningful; Harry had been gone for almost four months and they hadn't really been able to contact him. Poor Ginny was worried sick about him and everyone had to reassure her that he'd be alright, even if they didn't know if he would.

Harry simply put his hand on Ron's shoulder and smiled at him, "Pink is _definitely_ your colour."


End file.
